


Behind the Curtains

by Nejilover022



Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: Gen, Theater world, it is written as a play!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-01
Updated: 2014-11-01
Packaged: 2018-02-23 11:59:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,723
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2546711
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nejilover022/pseuds/Nejilover022
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lestrade and Mycroft are discussing business, but they keep getting interrupted!</p>
            </blockquote>





	Behind the Curtains

_Paris, France. January 1832_

_On stage of the Folies-Dramatiques, one of the many theaters on Boulevard du Crime Romantique, manager Mycroft Holmes is conversing with Lestrade, aspiring dramatic author._

MYCROFT: As I’ve told you Monsieur… Monsieur… ( _looks at the name on the play he has in hand_ ) Gregory-Barnabé-Octave de Fleury-Mombreuse du Pantel de Saint-Amant…( _exhausted_ ) Your parents sure had an incredible memory.

LESTRADE: Believe it or not, it is actually a pseudonym.

MYCROFT: Really? Couldn’t tell.

LESTRADE: People call me…Lestrade.

MYCROFT: ( _compassionate_ ) People are cruel. Listen Lestrade, I will not waste your time. Such talent! Where do you find it all? Those words, these situations, these truths!

LESTRADE: I work. Though I must admit my division at the ministry does allow me time to work on my art.

MYCROFT : Work is nothing. You have a gift. I’d go as far as to proclaim you possess _the_ gift. The one, us poor managers seek aimlessly above all every day. You wrote a play-to-be-played! You see, there are thousands of plays around, hundreds are interesting, tens are adequate, but yours is marvellously unique. A singular play-to-be-played!

LESTRADE : Are you saying…

MYCROFT: Indeed, I, Mycroft Holmes, have but one word.

_A young woman interrupts the meeting._

MOLLY: Maître Holmes has requested me to inform you that he will not show on stage tonight.

MYCROFT: WHAT?

MOLLY: He…he has an impending debt of 30 pounds and his _poker friends_ won’t let him leave unless he pays.

MYCROFT: ( _furious_ ) This is ridiculous! I will not submit to this treacherous blackmail. Tell him, Molly, that if doesn’t show, I will rip his contract and he’ll play along the mimes on the streets. I kill myself at work and it is not for his whims!

_She leaves and Mycroft returns his attention to Lestrade._

MYCROFT: ( _calmly_ ) So, what were we saying?

_Strong knocks from a cane hitting the floor are heard. A woman is knocking on the floor with it, calling out the name of the mature woman she precedes._

ANTHEA: Mademoiselle Adler! Mademoiselle Adler!

_She enters majestically the stage. Her coquetry is both eccentric and neglected. She is none the less grandiose._

MLLE ADLER: MYCROFT!

MYCROFT: Yes, grand and beautiful artist?

MLLE ADLER: Augmentation!

MYCROFT: Wha…

MLLE ADLER: Raise!

MYCROFT: I’ve already increased your pay last month.

MLLE ADLER: ( _superb_ ) Haven’t noticed. Mycroft, you’re reducing me to misery! I cannot afford domestics. I clean, I cook, I dispose of my used water. Later, you ask of me to play queens. Dear, you have me living in contradictions. Did Cleopatra cook? I think not. Augmentation! Augmentation!!!

MYCROFT: Fine! Just leave, go to my office, we’ll discuss this matter later.

MLLE ADLER: So be it.

ANTHEA: Mademoiselle Adler! Mademoiselle Adler!

_They both leave as Mycroft heavily sighed._

MYCROFT: What were we saying?

LESTRADE: My play…

MYCROFT: Yes. Yes. Ah! Grand poet that you are! In my next life, I should very much like to be reincarnated as you! Craft the ideal, create the beautiful, and enchant the beauty. Now, for the casting, as the woman's main lead, I submit Mlle Adler!

LESTRADE, _socked_ : Mlle Adler!

MYCROFT: Look at the man, touched! Yes, the great Mlle Adler!

LESTRADE: But my character is in her twenties…young! And she is…well…

MYCROFT: Don’t be rude. She is as old as she decides. Especially from afar. Now, let’s talk money. How much will you give me?

LESTRADE: What? It was my understanding _you_ would be the one giving _me_ money.

_A man enters the stage, looking around, lost._

JOHN: Excuse me. I’m looking for Maître Holmes?

MYCROFT: To do that, you’ll have to buy ticket for tonight’s play.

JOHN: Already did. Many times. I have a rendez-vous actually.

MYCROFT: Well then, go to the foyer, wait for him, he shouldn’t be long.

_John leaves._

MYCROFT: Now…

SHERLOCK: Mycroft!

_Maître Sherlock Holmes descends into the stage on a platform. Molly quickly follows, entering from the main entrance._

SHERLOCK: Do pay the gentlemen their 30 pounds. They well deserve it.

MYCROFT: No. you’ve lost on your own. Pay with your own money.

SHERLOCK: My honor is at stake!

MYCROFT: As well as my money.

SHERLOCK: How low of you to compare the two! I’ve entered this world as a servant of arts. Not as a puppet. You have thrown me in a disgraceful spiral.

MYCROFT: Right.

SHERLOCK: Ah…( _he jumps from the platform into the stage_ ) Molly, dearest, what have I to perform tonight ?

MOLLY: _Twenty years or the life of a poor man._

SHERLOCK: Do I? I can’t remember. What’s my first line?

MOLLY: 'My dear lady, I greet you a good day'.

SHERLOCK: Lady? Greeting? I speak of greetings? Me? Mycroft, it seems I have lost my memory.

MYCROFT: Oh no, I see your game.

SHERLOCK: I'll be disastrous.

MYCROFT: No.

SHERLOCK: We’ll have to close the curtain right after my entrance!

MYCROFT: No.

SHERLOCK: And you’ll have to refunds the public.

MYCROFT: Oh dear. FINE! ( _He takes his wallet out_ )

SHERLOCK: Oh, I think…( _Mycroft hands a bill to Molly_ ) Yes, the first line…( _another_ ) the first act ( _the last one_ ) the whole play! It’s a miracle! ( _Molly leaves_ )

MYCROFT: Halleluiah. Now don’t you have some place else to be?

SHERLOCK: Weren’t you talking to this fine man here?

MYCROFT: Yes, we’re the middle of a conversation.

SHERLOCK: Then I have no urgent place to be.

MYCROFT: How convenient. Let’s go to my office, Lestrade.

_Both men leave the stage as a young beautiful woman enters._

SHERLOCK: Jeanine! Hello dear. ( _he kisses her_ )

JEANINE: Hello!

SHERLOCK: Where have you been all day?

JEANINE: Out shopping. This afternoon I was at my singing teacher. Where were you?

SHERLOCK: Why, at _my_ singing teacher.

JEANINE: Hard to believe.

SHERLOCK: Strange how singing teachers are poorly credible this time a year.

JEANINE: I have never been with a man not subject to jealousy.

SHERLOCK: Only God knows how many men you’ve been with.

JEANINE: Sherlock!

SHERLOCK: Had to be said. No, I'm not jealous.

JEANINE: Could've fool me, you were striking with truth in _Othello_.

SHERLOCK: I was wearing make-up.

JEANINE: Right.

ANTHEA: Mlle Adler! Mlle Adler!

_The two women appear._

MLLE ADDLER: There you are, Sherlock! This play won’t take us anywhere soon. We need a new play! What do you think of _Cleopatra_?

JEANINE: What? With _you_?

MLLE ADLER: Obviously!

JEANINE: The public wants _young_ main leads.

MLLE ADLER: Little one, don’t be so infatuated by your youth. It’ll pass. The more you try to hang on to it, the faster it’ll go away. In a few years, you’ll be pathetic! ( _To Sherlock_ ) I have never been young. Youth is a mistake. On the contrary, I have always had the essential: talent!

JEANINE: You’ll see when I’ll replace you…

SHERLOCK: Jeanine.

MLLE ADLER: Let her, dear. When the public sees her enter the stage, they whisper how beautiful she looks and they forget about her in the next minute. When I enter, they say nothing, but when I perform, they scream of how beautiful I am, and they never forget! Anthea. ( _They are about to leave_ )

JEANINE: You are _not_ beautiful!

MLLE ADLER: I am as beautiful as I decide.

ANTHEA: Mlle Adler! Mlle Adler!

_They leave._

JEANINE: ( _screaming_ ) I loathe her!

SHERLOCK: You shouldn't try to go against Mlle Adler. She’s had Paris to her feet, and the Emperor.

JEANINE: You as well?

_Sherlock remained silent._

JEANINE: She’s not even pretty!

SHERLOCK: No. She was far worst.

_She leaves angrily and Molly enters._

MOLLY: Not my business, but you should beware of Jeanine. Her attitude is wild, and the rumors about her _friends_ …

SHERLOCK: And you assume I’m any better? You’re sweet.

MOLLY: You shouldn’t be playing with the matters of the heart.

SHERLOCK: You speak of sentiment, stable. I deal with feelings, changeable.

MOLLY: What about Love?

SHERLOCK: I couldn’t care less.

MOLLY: Yet, it is one of your specialties on stage.

SHERLOCK: Exactly, all the love I am capable of is for performance only. Now tell me something important; are they here?

MOLLY: Le cou du cygne?

SHERLOCK: Yes! Her, him. I don’t know which.

MOLLY: The loge is empty. I’ve seen as much as you have. A fine neck in the penumbra during the shows.

SHERLOCK: And luminescent eyes; les yeux de jades.

MOLLY: Maybe they’ll be there tonight. Now go change! The show’s about to start.

_Sherlock leaves to his quarters. He’s changing into a general behind a screen when there’s a knock on his door. The man enters the room. Sherlock doesn’t see him. He is about to introduce himself._

SHERLOCK: Don’t speak. I know who you are. I’ve seen your type before. Faking a rendez-vous with me to fulfill your very selfish goals. You are in your twenties. You’ve found your childhood terribly tedious, your parents idiotic, and couldn’t wait to grow old. And you are now. Old.

JOHN: Old? Yes.

SHERLOCK: ( _smiles_ ) You have no money. Yet you need an escape. 3 options: war, suicide or theater. War, risky from the beginning ‘til the end. Suicide, no hope. Only theater remains. And you’ve thought, ‘I’m average looking and have a decent voice’. You want to try out dramatic arts. Am I right?

JOHN: Would it please you?

SHERLOCK: To be right? Immensely.

JOHN: Then I won’t refuse you this joy. You are right.

SHERLOCK: ( _Joyous_ ) You’re seeking the best artist of Paris for help. You’ve come to me.

JOHN: At first?

SHERLOCK: What?

JOHN: I could’ve gone to another first. Moriarty, Hudson, Moran.

SHERLOCK: I have the most eccentric reputation of all.

JOHN: True. So I went to see Holmes first.

SHERLOCK: You did. Without thinking that at least ten other people had the same thought and three try out every day.

JOHN: I actually knew that.

SHERLOCK: Regardless. I hereby put a halt to your _plan_. Theater is not an escape for the beautiful or, in your case, average looking. To excel in this world, one has to possess talent! ( _Ready in costume, Sherlock moves the screen and finally sees John. He blurs out_ ) Le cou du cygne.

JOHN: What?

_That’s when Sherlock notices his eyes._

SHERLOCK: Les yeux de jade.

JOHN: I don’t understand.

SHERLOCK: No…nothing. For an instant, you looked like a memory.

JOHN: A good memory?

SHERLOCK: We’ll see…

 

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! So I had the idea to mix my favorite play and Sherlock!!! The play is called 'Frédéric ou le Boulevard du Crime' (Frederick or the Crime Boulevard) it is simply an amazing and beautiful play, witty and sassy, you'll just love the characters :3 This is little taste of it :o I won't do the whole play because it's really only to pay a simple hommage to Schmitt-my-love.  
> OMG FRENCH, well, the play takes place in Paris x3 and I'm evil so I leave to you the lovely task of translating some expressions ;) so not because I'm lazy...  
> Hope you'll enjoy it :) and if you do, read the whole play! it is totally worth it ;)  
> Leave comments telling me about your feelings x3
> 
>  
> 
> ***For those who wonder why-the-frick-frack does Anthea calls out Mlle Adler before she arrives, it's actually because Precieuse(Jeanine) washes the floor with too much soap hoping Mlle Georges (Mlle Adler) slips and hurts herself so bad she can't play, so she'll replace her. Mlle Georges knows of this so she asked Antoine(Molly) to precede her and make sure it's safe to walk***


End file.
